Rare Tiger Woods Promo, Kevin O’Leary’s $19M Card & Ludex Collection Management

On today's episode of Collector Nation Ryan and I dive into the latest on the

LudEx app collection management 2.0 yes it's coming and it's on the LudEx app

coming over the next 30 days we dove in to talk about all the newest features

plus we talked about Kevin O'Lear making a big splash again in the hobby

wearing the card as the necklace 19.5 mil folks fun discussion around that

we dove into the card show that we went to this weekend at Haywood Mall

all the highlights from that show and again all the latest the greatest the newest

here on Collector Nation in business you have competition especially within the tech world

because tech has got to do so much with these AI agents so we have to separate yourself

other ways and this is one way is that if you could get the best inventory management system

and you have people's collections you're going to win there's always something physical about

the cars themselves but it's maximizing the digital tools that we have it's really

trading enablement that's what this is trading and collecting enablement the new term of the day

for the hobby it's collection enablement every other news outlet has a headlight it says

Kevin O'Lear turns heads by having that necklace and it's about the necklace but it's not

about playing brand playing attention game welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here

on the Collector Nation Network whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs

you take you inside the hobby here are your hosts Ryan offer and Brian look

what's up guys welcome to Collector Nation it's Friday March 6 20 26 here in the studios of

lovely easily South Carolina and Chicago Illinois got Brian Ludden Ryan offered always here your

humble servants in the hobby here to bring you the latest news the latest gossip and you never know

what else we might get into other than being sunny and 78 here Brian what was the forecast in

Chicago it's cloudy 38 here Ryan we got a little north wind so yeah so it's beautiful oh man

I can't wait to get outside after this but not there no rubbing it in a little but you know

that's why you live in South Carolina you get this weather you know we don't have to hustle bust a

little of Chicago there's some commerce going on big business Brian's running a big CEO company I

can't do that here you know but we do get the weather that's the one thing we get here it easily

that's a beautiful part of it I know I mean I'm in your lovely collector station studio we'd

love to have you in at some point our store is hustling and bustling we welcome if you ever

hit the South Carolina area and you're listening you gotta hey it's a flagship store you're gonna stop

in it's like a I've said this many times but it's a man cave meets a card shop meets a studio

many times we're sitting here and talking to the celebrity Ludden and are my customers walk in

and they go oh Linux nine button now but it all seriousness they it's fun because it's right in the

center of the store so we'd love for you to stop in and if we were to be recording you say hello

to Brian and of course our lovely producer Bella who is with us today hey everyone

hi Bella Bella should have your camera on for like that you know like she we actually got

the bill we know we we unbanished her from non-camera land but no longer the basement girl yeah yeah

she's eight she's an AI robot so I've tried her pretty good right Brian it wouldn't you admit

she I mean she sounds like human like she responds to anything you ask yeah she seems great

I'll just take over the world real quick yeah exactly how many days may I this we discuss scary

it's good yeah your shop is looking awesome dude thank you brother it's all coming together as fun

and it's been I mean it's been great meeting people maybe we've had we got regulars already Brian

when we just say that like the true junkies we know I'm one of them so I mean you know I'm sitting

here and dude's coming back yes seeing you know we've been over like three weeks and some guys have

been here about five times united in the chase baby I mean that's that's what this industry is about

though you know like it's cool it is cool and all seriousness we'd welcome you here in South

Carolina if you get through there stop in you'll see us and we'll say some cards baby we've got

a good selection actually good stuff actually brought to that animal is gonna bring you right up

and you know the show was this weekend we did a show at Haywood Mall and bought a lot of cards

and I'm in mind last month this week got some cool stuff here this show hey a tiny aces card

you seeing those aced diamond all aces tops yeah those are fun card probably sitting that one

for grading got this fleer net effect Kobe it's like a die cut that's cool yeah what year was

that 1990 1994 maybe I don't know cold years this fleer Kobe 90 something mid 90s yeah

yeah say hello to Cole if you come into the store too cold manages the store here keeps me saying

and does a great job and one of the nicest guys in the hobby julia serving kaboom that is a cool

card I like it I like it Brian the sun think pulled a bird in this kaboom and we got the

Irving I bought the Irving we're not so I'm not as lucky as them so I have to buy my singles but

that was a good pick up and then Randy Moss the grocery for all time on the kaboom so had a good

card show Brian I mean we sold some stuff man but I was I was buying that was buying baby always be

buying ABB well yeah I mean that's that's how you make your money right it's like you got to buy

you know where you're gonna tell it you got to sell it at a concert right around there so every buy

matters it's interesting the card showed lots of deals being had we're gonna have some footage from

that we had calendar main guy filming everything setting things up doing deals we're gonna have

some good footage for that to check out the socials I mean you know we probably don't plug that

enough look if you're not already go follow l u d x blood x on the app store and of course in social

media if you just search blood x blood x will come up in Instagram Facebook et cetera go follow

collector nation collector station either one of those so give us some love there and we'll have

all of the footage there and we've got some cool videos for some of the products number things for

blood x and lots of cross pollination here as we you know we're living and breathing this thing baby

I got a card that was so interesting so some guy you know whoever I he came in to he came

in my house because I he my dad's friend and he has his tiger woods card that I have no idea I've

never seen it Mike Baker's like I don't think I've ever seen it and it's a promo card from

a Toronto show so I'll show this like really quickly but we'll get a better picture yes

huh okay who is that tiger oh yeah okay never seen that okay and then the back the back is like

it's out of 20 who makes it some dude in his basement probably but I paid $40 for it and there was

a letter that was like listen this is a promo from the 2000 expo Toronto expo card show it's called

the year of the tiger there were 500 printed like there 500 base and then this is a platinum of 20

and if you bought a base you got a chance to open up a pack to see if you got this card in there

and this is a promo card called the year of the tiger it's 2000 and I have no idea what it's worth

I paid 40 bucks for it I'll give you 50 darn 25% profit if it's not worth $40 then we both need to go

get out of this game okay but then but then I thought to myself my buddy at work is like oh that's

fake is promo I'm like if you're doing a fake card don't number them to 20 yeah like or you

number 20 and print 2000 but you know it could be fake it could be but even if it is good story

yeah uh what's new let's give give us the LudEx CEO update the things you can share like what's

happening on the LudEx front the company standpoint I think the biggest thing is rolling out this

collection inventory management um part of the app it should be in the app

within the month uh way more robust searching filtering sorting um and really

the industry needs an inventory management collection management um platform and that's really

what we're doing we've been working on that for like a year I mean that the utility that LudEx has

is like scan a card but like we want it to be like all on competency because in business you have

competition especially within the tech world because tech has got to move it so much with these AI

agents so what you have to do is separate yourself other ways and this is one way is that if you

could get the best inventory management system and you have people's collections you're going to win

and that's what we've been working on we've been rolling that out at the web version um but

within the month we'll have it you'll start to see it migrate towards the uh the app so that's

super exciting um our tech team's been working really hard at it I love it I've seen it uh you've

seen it yeah it's slick really slick I mean we need the the hobby needs one or at least two really good

ones it let's start with one really good one because I don't know that one great one exist yet

you know you're this is gonna be the first one I think it's truly like really exceptional

yeah I mean cardlighter does a really good job I do I love there are indexes and stuff

I mean yeah I like that I like the indexes it's just the UI of the collection management is not like

wonderful let's be honest I like the substance of what they have there but I kind of want like

either me or someone creative to get a hold of the UI like they got the data you know they got

the indexes I like that but I need an art to meet science yeah and I mean there's a small

smaller ecosystem so they could you know they price things as well but yes but it's hard to get

cards on to that platform and it's not like super scalable yeah but that's why I love about what

I'm seeing and what I've witnessed with the LudEx is it was already good but now with the updates it

feels exceptional it's it and like you know everything's gonna have get better over time but it

feels like a real leap forward I mean you and tack every it's like every three years four years

you have to like redesign it like you have to put money into it and back into back and you got to

make it more relevant and you got to you got to skin it better and you got to market it better

and it's got to look better because if not you're stuck with you know a ComC or eBay or you

know card ladder it's just not it doesn't migrate to like the modern day so but it's very

offensive to do that it's really good it's so put your CEO hat on for the audience like

the not that you didn't already have it on put it put it on the little tighter and give the audience

like okay what they can expect with this new app like what does it's collection management but

like give me the elevator pitch the thirty second on the new features what people could expect from

it well the the thing that I like the best about it is that it's stackable search right so if I

wanted to check out my Jordan collection I could say Michael Jordan cards equal or greater than

a thousand dollars from 1990 to 1995 and then all that all that search stacks on each other and

you'll get that component you'll just get those cards that meet that criteria then I could take

those cards and if you want to look at them I could send them to you I could start sharing the

collection so you and I even that tiger card I could be like hey I'll scan it in there I'll send

it to you but it's the stackable search that's really cool for me and then taking that on the

social aspect of it and then sharing that with other people yeah so the collector station app that's

about one one millionth of the capability of a LudEx but will eventually probably migrate to

what the LudEx is once this gets commercially available and I can you know beg Brian for it

to allow me to use it now he's letting me use it but I would I could actually roll it out with my

whole store that basically what I think is cool Brian I could share like a feature that's on

our really stupid app that's not as pretty as yours is I allow people to build a collection and then

they can share what they want with the store so that I can make offers on their cards so that way

they get the collection management for free but I can see what their cards are if they agree to share

them yep yep public that's all yeah then and then like think about that how it what you're thinking

about is what the capabilities that we'll have so if if a shop has their cards on there I could go

to the kiosk like you guys have a kiosk yeah and I could go through that kiosk to get the cards that I

want exactly and then those cards that I want might be on the floor or they might be in a storage

unit yep behind the store and so that's that's what I think would be really cool is that when people

come in they can find what they want and that gives them time to then you know buy some wax or

you know break something or whatever and then it's a card show it's it honestly turns into it could

turn into a 365 24 7 card virtual card show it never has got yeah man lots of cool features and look

that's stack look I'll say this I go to a decommerce website like you said stacking the search

capabilities that's what makes a break a really good site is how how much you can sort of slice and

dice the inventory or what's there and the same thing with your own collection when you're trying to

put a deal together or you're trying to know what you have or like especially if you've got thousands

of cards in your collection all right how many you know baseball cards do I have that are over $50

because maybe you're doing a deal to move some baseball cards because you're more of a basketball guy

but you aren't necessarily looking for a player you just want to know what your high-value

baseball cards are being able to slice and dice that data the way you need to that's next level

and that that's true empowerment to the collector with managing the collection that that is the

I think that you just hit me Brian what you guys are doing it's really what digital unlocked right

because it in the analog world is finally coming to this industry I like because all these things

all these cards belong and they're in binders and they're in top load or sitting in closets or

they're in a beautiful case in your house but what collection digital collection management

was supposed to unlock was this ability to have knowledge and data and the slice and parse and and

know what you have at the most intricate level which is what digital total unlock for every other

industry you know the last 15 years yeah and think about this like like the power it's really

our database right it's like we have 400 million cards in our database and those cars belong to

people yeah those but that's the searchable function of it every card that's probably been printed

we probably have you know 95% of them 98% of them so all we're doing is going through our own

database with that not that all that data and we're sharing it and that that's it if you want to

find a card go find the card and you know what I could put in exactly the card I want and we could

say hey Ryan Altered has that card will be like cool I'm gonna go go on discord and I'm gonna

reach out to Ryan see if he'll sell I'm gonna go to his house you know what he's eating kids but

he's having dinner with his kids hey man I saw yeah that that Michael Jordan card on that

bow jackson card on love x yeah man I'll see you at the show on setter

no but you're right about that like it's all it's getting a massive database and then

making it into this like searchable virtual world exactly it uh there's always something

physical about the cars themselves but it's maximizing the digital tools that we have

to innate it's innate it's really trading enablement that's what this is trading and collecting

enablement the new term of the day for the hobby it's collection enablement

I'm an enabler and they you are Brian that's a you are the chief enablement officer

that's a CEO that's all yours an enabler you enable these wonderful things to happen with our

digital collection management oh man we have we have we have fun even while we're working the uh

so big things coming with collection management and LudEx should be out this month Brian is that

for the masses yeah I would say that it's you know we are trying to release like two different features

a week um and so it's going to migrate towards the finished product it is software so it's never

truly finished but the functionality of it will be that we've talked about here today will be

30 days yeah our big reveal is going to be in the national route that's what really what we're

shooting for and uh so you know we kind of have have those bookends today is one bookend and

the national is the other to make it really functional and really cool keep your eyes peeled

stay in touch with the LudEx social Instagram all that you'll see the updates you'll see the releases

and all that LudEx.com we'll always have the most up-to-date information of course uh and of course

come see me and Brian at the national we'll be there what we're going to do we're going to who

knows we'll be up to by then like we're going to we'll have a collection nation on display Brian's

going to have all the goodies I mean the the book you guys did it right I mean you guys had a nice

boost last year I mean it feels swanky a little you know walk around it's like whoa I'm at

CES suddenly yeah it's kind of gotten pretty big it has I mean but it's but everything kind of

still felt like a big okay a table with a bunch of cards on it or you know I mean I thought the

digital pack opening guys you know I won't name names or several of them they did pretty good

because if they then they're still in the tack of that but you definitely guys had the white

and the blue the branding that I love I felt elevated the LudEx booth and I'm sure that will

the surprises and delights will only increase this year that's what we hope for

so come see us at the national that will be in late July first week of August it's like the 31st

first second somewhere in all in that neighborhood I don't have my counter in front of me

but uh hey I got to I got the RV wagon coming hard more news on that I'll share more that's

just a teaser for now folks uh let's just say it's coming along very nice uh Kevin O'Leary

turned heads at the 2026 Saga Awards by wearing that Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant card that he paid

you know him and a couple of investors paid 13.5 and I guess it's already up to 19.5 I don't

know if that was because what was around the necklace was worth that or if the card had actually

jumped you know 40% uh says they bought it probably who knows um

uh part of me rolls my eyes but part of me goes yeah it's kind of baller to wear that

card around your neck you know like I don't even have Logan Paul did it first uh I'm okay with it

yeah I mean I I think like I think it's cool like I don't know if I would do it yeah

I would I'm also I'm buying a 30 happy yeah you would I'm not buying a 13.5 million dollar

card either like I would know like like you like you know a thousand bucks or something so

but I think when you have it like that just shows like it is art right is art it is collecting

it's unique um it's hope you don't get like mugged yeah you you think he had to add like extra

protection insurance for that day yeah well he's I wanted yeah total had a side policy probably

10 grand or more I mean maybe more than that I don't know bro if it was if I had partner

and I was I was like he's like this is what I want to do yeah and I

third of that or half of that I'd be like whoa no no no no like get insurance even that

insurance is like but but here's the thing and look hey I bear with me I know you're here for the

cards and the hobby but you're always going to get a little slice of business for me at least

marketing and if you don't know right about now it's the number one business and marketing show

an apple it's been for three years that's my other show I don't ever plug it but I'm going to

plug it right now Kevin O'Leary knows something that very few business people get he understands

brand he's playing the brand game he's he understands that the attention game the media game

he knows how to make headlines that he may look our little show here you know maybe we're top

five sports and that apple but it's our little show our little slice and what we're talking about

it and so is CNN and so is drug report and so is every other news outlet has a headline it says

Kevin O'Leary turns heads by having that necklace and it's about the necklace but it's not

about playing brand playing attention game and Kevin makes his own brand his own assets and

his own business is more valuable because he generates headlines so you can hate the game

all you want but don't hate the player that's some that's some sage advice that's awesome

collard Murray got released from the Cardinals this is just like a story that's been coming for six

years I like it's like I don't know what to make a collard Murray like bad ass in college had moments

in the pros I like him I like his game but it's like it's never I feel like you're always like one

you're always waiting for one more dollar turn that just doesn't seem to ever come

yeah I mean it really sets your franchise back you know like they get they paid him a lot of money

and he just didn't deliver and that's that hurts you know the Vikings I can see the Vikings picking them

up as a veterans to go against JJ I think if Kyla Murray matures and gets and and really commits to

the craft I think he has crazy potential but it's got to happen like this year right

it's so weird too because he's never been the guy that's in the headlines like he's not man's L

you know it's not like and I like Johnny I'm not about to tell you Johnny I'm just saying but

let's be honest and you even said it yourself totally mature like in trouble all the time that's

not Kyler he seems like put together but all you hear is this same thing this maturity this

discipline like it's like it's hard to get your head around it he had to put a clause in his

contract to not play like PlayStation or Xbox or something like like that was in his contract you

could only play X amount of hours of Xbox or like like a child yeah never heard of such in a

professional contract right and there's been some dudes there's been some dudes that like

if they were going to have that clause or have the no stupid goofing off clause it would have been

before Kyler because you don't again Kyler's just under the he's just behind the scenes I guess

he's like you know what's the kid that never grew up it's like Webster or something like

you know I talk about Peter Pan maybe but him a Webster like when he like kid that like

always was the kid I don't know Webster just physically didn't grow okay baby I thought he was

always kind of actually like a kid too yeah same guy from different strokes Arnold yeah exactly

just growing I don't know I didn't mean like I'll talk about more maturity like then they're

but Kyler I mean he's not the biggest guy but he's these bigger than those guys

I mean these are NFL quarterback I thought a bit more like like they're always a kid I guess

kind of like Michael Jackson like Michael Jackson they say never really grew up because he just never

like got a chance to live he's on the road all the time then when he finally I had a little bit

of time of money he's like I'm gonna stay kid you know anyway I digress Bella's right Peter Pan

sit complex yeah Peter Pan complex that's what it is not Webster you know I am showing my

knowledge of the 80s silver spoons remember that maybe that silver spoons silver spoon the kid

had the train in the you know the drove through whole house secret passages great house was a great

house always I forever wanted secret passages in my house because of that show way different

than my house I grew up in was it all open no doors or something was like they didn't

the train okay box no in fact at my I'm Mary Frances Ludden turns 80 she turned 80 yesterday

so have they mom thank you for raising four boys so yeah so shout out to Mary Frances Ludden

hey I'm thankful for Mary Frances Ludden for having Brian you know I don't even know her

but I love her because she had Brian so we do give her a shout out 80 it's a good one you know

she is she good health good yeah she's doing okay they're down in Marco Island Florida doing their

thing okay so tired yeah it's cool retouch doing their thing I talked about mom this morning

for about 30 minutes and she just told me how happy she was like 30 minutes she's living her best

life that's great you know I'm like if I'm 74 and as happy as she is I'm I'm good you know I will

say that I have my parents I have happy parents you know like that's I think that's a big deal like

as far as how you grow up like I don't know like it makes a difference mom was always happy yeah

it does you know like mom was always happy that that was in the military so you had that in

them but it was generally always happy it was no no we did we were blessed tonight because you know a

lot of things you have mental health issues things that they're just natural or just out of control

and I you know not having to go around that it's like I like be around happy people you're not

not because the not because we're like I don't know Cinderella like you think Gary oh you know

like Pollyanna I think that's the the bright analogy there I'm like Webster uh the

not Pollyanna's but you know like just just not a time like this let's let's just be happy

you know try to figure this out anyway I'm happy that Brian Ludden is my friend and then we get

to do this show any final any go ahead brother what is that same exacting to you man what uh

any final thoughts Bella did we leave anything out here on the March 6th 2026 edition of

Pleasure Nation only thing is that today the US plays Brazil in the world baseball classic which

is super exciting and we lost last time to Japan in 2023 so hopefully this year we can have a

comeback moment yay yeah that'd be awesome that's that's exciting stuff exactly we're right around

the corner from opening day we talk about that more as it comes I I did open a box I you know

as we finish here I don't want to I'll talk about happy the open the tops uh 2026 series one

hobby box and I haven't and I'm a baseball I'm a football excuse me basketball more of like me

personally PC stuff I got baseball stuff we got tonic baseball in the store that's a freaking

card shop and baseball still rules but I just all did was make me want to open a football box I don't

know I know people love baseball and I like I'm gotten more into watching baseball again but the

baseball cards there's so many players I'm like I got dizzy trying to like get heat up with it I

mean I fell old I mean I mean I mean how many players are on every baseball team 24 okay so it's

not my magic well I know there's a lot of football players but they don't make football cards for

every football player I don't think dude they got they got rookie league they got low A they got

yeah they got double A they got triple so many so many play and how many teams is it same numbers

30 yeah that's about the same as is uh football and basketball but like that's pretty 720 people

are the major leagues but in the minor leagues there's like 7000 I'm just so behind on my names I

got to get better at that football guys I know the offensive lineman for the chiefs you know like but

it's it's it's just getting rough I gotta get up I gotta I'm really trying to get back up speed

but I I'll tell you what like football cards are way more expensive but yeah I feel like you get

bigger hits I was just kind of like dying for like a $10 card open in that hobby box yeah like

$130 card and that's cool but I'm like I don't know take your feedback anything out there that wants

to learn me on uh baseball getting me back up the speed on baseball that's what we say in the south

if you want to learn me uh grew up in easy man I got to college degree but I mean let's be honest

I grew up right here uh I got to get get learned on uh more baseball that you want to talk basketball

you want to talk Cooper flag you want to talk win B you want to talk shake gilders you want to talk

who are you going to go steep as you want a basketball football but I got to get my my baseball

thing going because I was just like shh opening these baseball cards I believe you could do it I

believe in you I got a memory for it I just got to get into it I needed to open like a banger

box I mean I'm gonna go like jumbo next I'm triple jumbo or something I don't know whatever

whatever like the the banging box I need some like I needed some you know what it was brining

just some dopamine and I wasn't getting it with the uh the the ace of base I was getting out of

that hobby box too much base I mean the the base card stack I thought they're high when you

put some football that baseball card base stack was this high out of that hobby box yeah no

and now I'm not gonna stop the box out of the store but uh no I'm saving the good ones for

everyone else yeah it's enough tinder for a day oh god it's it's kind of it's kindling in the

in the south koana fire for uh three years like one of those cards up and go now I'm trying to

learn the names man lots of names so bear with me as I get my baseball names for this year I'm

I look then three or four weeks I'm gonna be quoting the dudes for baseball I'm committed to it

I mean I'm gonna put my reps in I got open swarm get the boys in the baseball more we've been

football basketball family even though we own the card store I got my guys they're in the

baseball but man we gotta I gotta get some reps and I gotta rip like I gotta rip through like

a hundred grand and and baseball to get where I was a football you got three grand yeah three grand

at least yeah Brian final thoughts today my friend I'm all good my man it's always a pleasure to

be with you enjoy it thank you for everything Bella thank you for thank you for everything you do

say yeah just have a great weekend everybody and thanks for watching yeah we appreciate everyone

like Brian said we we know you got options and we thank you for making us one of them if there's

something you got feedback leaving the comments I respond to every one of those uh Bella and I

jump in on those comments on social or on Spotify or YouTube keep dropping them anything we can talk

about guess we could bring ideas hey you know Brian's got access so we can you know what do you want

but you know yeah let us bring you access to what you want when you want it and we thank you

don't forget about LudEx in the in the app store iludx go download that app we talked a lot about it

today go check it out for Brian Ludden in Chicago I'm Ryan Alfred we'll see you next time

pleasure nation thanks for tuning into the show be sure to follow us on your go to podcast

platform and catch the full video episode over on youtube visit us at collectornation.com and

follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alfred now get out there and collect yours